In a first standard design, contacts located on a wiper assembly form a shorting bar across a resistor on the ceramic card and a conductor on the ceramic card. A prior art ceramic resistor card 10 is shown in FIG. 1. A wiper button makes contact at designated intervals with conductive bars 12 emanating from a resistive ink 14 printed over the conductive bars. A second wiper button rides on a flat continuous conductive path 16 screened onto the ceramic substrate. An alloy of copper, zinc and nickel known as “silver nickel” is used as a material for the contacts due to the relative softness of this material and its relative low cost. Substantial material volume must be utilized to allow for the significant contact wear to insure part durability.
In a second standard design, contacts located on the wiper assembly form a shorting bar across a resistor on a ceramic card and a metal conductor plate. The wiper contact button makes contact at designated intervals with conductive bars emanating from underneath the resistor ink. The second contact button rides on the metal plate.
Both of these standard designs are susceptible to the buildup of contact resistance. Contact resistance can change the output value of the resistor assembly or in some instances can cause “open circuit” conditions. “Silver nickel” has a tendency to oxidize under environmental conditions found in today's gasoline fuel tanks, and with an increased use of oxygenated fuels. With the designs described above, relatively high forces are used to cause abrasion or wear against the ink/ceramic surface or the metal contact plate. Contact wear is further aggravated by the presence of the fuel. The fuel washes the abrasive surfaces, thereby “renewing” the cutting surfaces of the abrasives in the ceramics and the inks. In contrast, the contact wear under dry conditions creates “smooth” surfaces as surface irregularities are filled in with abraded material. “Burn through” is achieved when sufficient voltage is applied to the circuit to overcome the contact resistance. The designs described above require a voltage that can produce 25 milliamperes (mA) to overcome contact resistance on a consistent basis. 
Current electrodes employ high amounts of economically costly precious metals in their manufacture. These precious metals are also vulnerable to the environmental poisons to which they are subjected, thereby diminishing the potential life span of the electrode. Therefore, what is needed is an improved electrode capable of the same or a higher level of performance as existing electrodes, with the effect of lower manufacturing costs and longer life-spans.